Smokers can puff away on private patios and balconies at this 28th Street hotel

WYOMING, MI – Hotelier Bob Sullivan believes he has developed an edge over his downtown competitors by modifying some of the rooms and suites at his Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel to include private patios and balconies for smokers.

The veteran hotel operator said his 155-room hotel at 255 28th Street SW will eventually include 70 rooms and suites that offer smokers a chance to puff away in private, just steps outside their room.

Sullivan said his 20 smoking patios and balconies are a response to a 2010 state law that bans smoking inside any hotel room and has forced smokers to gather in parking lots and outside hotel entrances.

“Can you imagine if you’re a smoker, how inconvenient it is?” said Sullivan, who said he only smokes the occasional cigar. “If you’re in your pajamas, you’d have to get dressed and go outside the hotel.”

On ground floor rooms facing 28th Street, Sullivan has installed sliding glass doors leading to individual patios enclosed by a privacy wall and wooden fence. On the second floor, he has installed sliding glass doors that lead to covered balconies with privacy walls.

On three ground-floor suites facing the hotel’s courtyard and swimming pool, Sullivan has installed sliding doors that lead outside. He also has refurbished the suites with new furnishings and fixtures.

Despite the premium, hotel Manager Kim Austin said the rooms with smoking patios have become their most popularly-requested rooms since they posted a sign advertising their availability on the hotel marquee.

Although guests are told they cannot smoke in the rooms themselves, they are grateful for the privacy and convenience offered by the patios, Austin said.

Not many hotels can re-configure their rooms to allow the private smoking patios, said Sullivan, who also owns the 165-room Riverfront Hotel at 270 Ann St. NW. That hotel’s layout does not allow for the smoking patios, he said.

Sullivan, who sold the downtown Holiday Inn at 310 Pearl St. NW four years ago, said he hopes the smoking rooms will give his suburban hotel an edge over the downtown hotels, which he competes against for business and convention traffic.